Gran Tourismo Cars

Gran Tourismo Cars

After two oil crises in the seventies, the sports car market and Gran Tourismo category car feared the worst. After oil prices quadrupled in 1973 and then double again in 1979, there really was a danger of delay.

Only the most resistant could withstand such a crisis without troubles, such as Ferrari and especially Porsche. The flash of speed appeared in the mid nineteen-eighties, especially due to the influence of the GTI. Speed is fashionable and every producer of standard cars such as Volkswagen (Golf), Peugeot (205) or Renault (R5) reacted to the argument.

Psychosis over the lack of oil was over and the door to the automobile dream began to open again, although with new and drastic standards against environmental pollution pushing producers to adapt their cars. Ferrari lighted the way with its Ferrari F40 in celebration of its 40^th birthday in 1987. Four hundred were scheduled for production, but finally, Ferrari produced 1311 cars. The request for power and performance was here again!

Aston-Martin woke up again with the DB9 as well as Maserati with its demonic MC12 that took after the 3200GT model. Its relative is the Ferrari Enzo from which the engine was used. The MC12 produced for races, with a carbon body, caused havoc in the GT category but in the Le Mans, the car is banned because of the directives. Approximately only fifty MC12 were produced!

Bugatti celebrated the recovery of the make with the EB110 and waited for the future Veyron. The birth was slow and difficult, as the assignment conditions for the Bugatti Veyron had to be met. Just think: 16 cylinders, 4 turbo, 1001 HP, 400 km/h (250 mph) – is there anything better?

Eight years after the excellent McLaren F1 GTR, The Mercedes SLR left the shops of the F1 team. The fruit of cooperation between McLaren, the formula 1 producer, and Mercedes is this SLR model. The technology and design was inspired by Formula 1 with an aluminum hull and robotized gear and with its 620 HP is a part of a very select group of contemporary super cars.

Bentley, with the beautifully wheeled Continental GT, revived the famous times of its make. It wanted to take a leap in the world of technologies with this all-wheel-drive model.

Lamborghini did not stay behind with its Murcielago model in 2001. The V12 engine of the Italian beauty uses all the latest solutions. The bomb from below the Alps demonstrates it with 0 – 100 km/h (0 – 62 mph) acceleration in 3.8 seconds.

Chevrolet with xth version of the mythic Corvette C6 is a representative of the sixth generation of Corvette that irritated the best European GT, especially in its strongest version, the Z06. The Corvette is not shy during races; it won the Gran Tourismo category three times in a row during the 24-hour Le Mans.